Celtic's European Challenge: O'Neill Prepares for LASK Showdown
Martin O’Neill is preparing for Celtic’s biggest night of the season so far with the transfer window door all but shut.
The Celtic manager does not expect any late business before Wednesday’s Champions League play-off first leg against LASK at Celtic Park, admitting there is a “fairly decent chance of nothing happening” before Tuesday’s late-night deadline.
No panic buys before LASK
Summer recruits Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh have already injected energy into Celtic’s early-season performances, while Mika Baur and Haissem Hassan are only just in the door. The squad looks fresher, but not yet complete.
That sense of incompleteness sharpened at the weekend when Arne Engels was sold to West Ham. O’Neill was candid about the hole that leaves.
Celtic, he said, are “still in the process of finding a replacement” for the midfielder and he admitted it will be “hard to replace his running power” against the Austrians. Engels knew the system, knew the tempo, and gave O’Neill a reliable engine in the middle of the park.
“It would have been nice to have kept Arne for the couple of games, because he knows the players, knows his role in the team,” O’Neill reflected. “But it's not to be. We'll have someone else in there.”
That “someone else” may well be Baur. The German made his debut as a 59th-minute substitute in Sunday’s 4-0 win at Dundee United and impressed enough to come into the frame for a start, particularly with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain suspended and other options short of minutes.
“It might be Baur, I'm not sure yet. He's just getting to know the team,” O’Neill said, leaving the door open but hinting strongly that the new signing could be thrown straight into a European cauldron.
Hatate at a crossroads
Reo Hatate is the other obvious candidate. On paper, a proven title-winner with Celtic, technically gifted and experienced in big matches. In reality, he has yet to play a single minute this season.
The Japan international has been an unused substitute so far and has not started a game since a 2-0 defeat at Dundee United in April. For a player of his pedigree, that is a stark statistic.
Hatate, 28, joined Celtic in 2022 and still has two years left on his contract. His medal haul in Glasgow is substantial: five league titles, three Scottish Cups and two League Cups. O’Neill knows exactly what the midfielder can be when he is at full tilt.
“It's been a bit of a struggle for him [of late],” the manager admitted. “What I would love Reo to do is get back to the form he showed a couple of years ago when he was one of the best players in Scotland.”
There have been enquiries about Hatate, O’Neill confirmed, but “nothing definitive”. A move could yet materialise. Or the story could twist in another direction.
“If Reo wants to stay and battle for his place in the team and says he's capable of doing it, I have no problem with that,” O’Neill insisted.
So Celtic head into a pivotal European tie with a squad in flux: one key midfielder sold, another potentially on the brink, and a new face in Baur learning names and patterns on the fly.
The Champions League play-off will not wait for everything to settle. Nor, O’Neill knows, will LASK.
